Criminal

A senior police officer has called for the investigation of cybercrime to become routine for all police officers because the specialist units presently set up will not be able to cope with the growing instances of the new wave in criminality.

Chief Superintendent Gavin Thomas, Vice President of the Police Superintendents’ Association was reported in the online newsletter Police Oracle as saying that every officer had to be normalised in investigating cybercrime if the police service was to keep up with growing demand.

He said the speed of growth in cybercrime meant the service could not afford to be solely reactive or strictly specialist in its approach.

“My problem is we are creating bespoke specialisms within the police service but this needs to be normalised.

“Very quickly something happening like this will become a norm in our society; so how do we normalise our approach to these technologies in terms of investigating the crime, recording it and protecting people?”

The rate of people shopping online was also going up by around 10% year-on-year: increasing the likelihood that more fraud would be committed.

Chief Supt Thomas said: “This is not going to go away - people are changing their behaviours and how they live their lives.”

He said the service had a tendency to be behind the curve on technology and this was evident in the 80s and 90s with the increasing popularity of mobile phones.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show a dramatic reduction in the number of recorded crimes for the period from April 2012 to March 2013, while detection rates for the same period were the highest since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002.

The figures show that the police recorded 3.7 million offences during the period, a decrease of 7% compared with the previous year.

The College of Policing Professional Committee has approved updated guidance on media relationships to ensure a more consistent approach by forces in their regular dealings with the media. The updated guidance, called Relationships with the Media, will now be available to Chief Constables for implementation.

The guidance was reviewed following criticism about differing approaches to releasing information by forces and is intended to ensure a professional working relationship between police and the media. It updates police practice on ‘off-the-record’ briefings, recording contact with the media, appropriately reporting any personal relationship between a police officer and a journalist and providing information concerning arrests to the media.

Plans to allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access the IP addresses used for communication in suspected crimes included in the Queen’s Speech on 8 May have reignited fears of a so-called “snoopers’ charter” among some civil rights groups.

In the speech, The Queen said: “In relation to the problem of matching internet protocol addresses, my Government will bring forward proposals to enable the protection of the public and the investigation of crime in cyberspace.”

The new proposals follow the withdrawal of the Communications Data Bill after opposition from the Deputy Prime Minister.

Surrey Police has halted development of an integrated criminal information and intelligence system, known as SIREN (Surrey Integrated Reporting Enterprise Network), which has so far cost in excess of £14m. The decision was made by its newly-elected Police and Crime Commissioner Kevin Hurley (pictured) following an independent review and a report by the Chief Constable that the system no longer represented the most up-to-date solution.

The system had been in development since 2009 when the contract was awarded to an IT company.

In a statement issued on 8 April and udated on 11 April, the PCC's office said: "In November 2012, Chief Constable Lynne Owens reiterated her view to the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner Kevin Hurley that the on-going programme to replace Surrey's criminal intelligence system may no longer represent the best long-term option for the force and the public.

"The Commissioner requested an independent report and sought further operational advice from the Chief Constable to consider whether Surrey Police should continue with the Siren project, or bring it to an end and instead look to examine the costs and feasibility of switching to the systems now being implemented by a number of other forces in the region.

"The Commissioner has determined that the benefits of collaborative working with other regional forces are potentially so great that Surrey Police should withdraw from the Siren project and immediately begin to work up a fully-costed proposal for an alternative solution.

"The Commissioner believes this is in the best interests of both Surrey Police operationally and the Surrey public from a value for money perspective."

Mr Hurley said: "My decision to withdraw from the Siren project has not been taken lightly, but I believe that this course of action will ultimately be in the best interests of both Surrey Police and the Surrey public. It is right and proper that it will be fully reviewed by the Police and Crime Panel and by Grant Thornton, the Audit Commission's appointed external auditors.

"I hope you can appreciate that a full inquiry into a project of this scale is likely to take some time and that it would not be proper for me to comment further at this stage."

"In September 2012, Surrey Police advised the Surrey Police Authority of its concern that the programme no longer represented the best long-term option for the force and the public. The Chief Constable re-iterated this position to the PCC on his election in November 2012.

"The management of information is critical in delivering effective policing. Given operational collaboration with other forces in the region, and as the national policing environment has now changed, we must also adapt our plans or risk losing out on the wider benefits."